MLB 2012 Season

[Quincy]

How does LaRussa get to manage the NL and make an idiotic decision by not picking Dickey as the starter when he has the best stats in the league the reason given is that Posey is not used to a knuckler. Neither is Ruiz but he will be Dickey's catcher when he comes in. Great reasoning.

He says it's a nod to Cain's better career. Also Ruiz will warm up Dickey in the pen so he'll at least see a few butterflies beforehand. Not saying to this defend him, just fleshing out the details. The latter I think is sound enough, as the last time a knuckleballer pitched in the All-Star game it was an adventure. The All-Star game seems to offend more people than it honors.

[Neal Pomea]

Where did you hear that Ruiz is going to catch R.A. Dickey? Yadier Molina is the best catcher in baseball today, so I thought he would be the one.

[Tim McG]

How does LaRussa get to manage the NL and make an idiotic decision by not picking Dickey as the starter when he has the best stats in the league the reason given is that Posey is not used to a knuckler. Neither is Ruiz but he will be Dickey's catcher when he comes in. Great reasoning.

Overall, Cain has better stuff. He threw a perfect game this year. And with a 2.62 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and 118 SOs, he's no slouch.

Dickey has his Knuckleball, but that's pretty one dimensional pitching if you ask me. Sure he's been successful, but has he really been challenged yet? A quick look at his game-by-game W-L record suggests he hasn't faced very tough competition. Sure, he beat Pittsburg and Washington, but way early in the season. They were still coming together as teams then. Check it out:

Here's the link:

Edited July 10, 2012 by GoodSpeak

[Quincy]

Where did you hear that Ruiz is going to catch R.A. Dickey? Yadier Molina is the best catcher in baseball today, so I thought he would be the one.

Yadier is on bereavement leave as his grandfather died. So NL will just have 2 catchers, however the rules allow Posey to return to the game if Ruiz is injured. If Posey were to become injured as well Bud Selig will catch.

[JSngry]

What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light?

http://what-if.xkcd.com/1/

[PHILLYQ]

How does LaRussa get to manage the NL and make an idiotic decision by not picking Dickey as the starter when he has the best stats in the league the reason given is that Posey is not used to a knuckler. Neither is Ruiz but he will be Dickey's catcher when he comes in. Great reasoning.

He says it's a nod to Cain's better career. Also Ruiz will warm up Dickey in the pen so he'll at least see a few butterflies beforehand. Not saying to this defend him, just fleshing out the details. The latter I think is sound enough, as the last time a knuckleballer pitched in the All-Star game it was an adventure. The All-Star game seems to offend more people than it honors.

But LaRussa could still start Dickey and give him some good warmup time in the bullpen with Posey before the game. For a sport trying to expand its base, Dickey would be a great story, and then there's the pitching- Dickey has been the best pitcher in the NL so far this year. LaRussa is once again trying to show how smart he is.

Edited July 10, 2012 by PHILLYQ

[Tim McG]

How does LaRussa get to manage the NL and make an idiotic decision by not picking Dickey as the starter when he has the best stats in the league the reason given is that Posey is not used to a knuckler. Neither is Ruiz but he will be Dickey's catcher when he comes in. Great reasoning.

He says it's a nod to Cain's better career. Also Ruiz will warm up Dickey in the pen so he'll at least see a few butterflies beforehand. Not saying to this defend him, just fleshing out the details. The latter I think is sound enough, as the last time a knuckleballer pitched in the All-Star game it was an adventure. The All-Star game seems to offend more people than it honors.

But LaRussa could still start Dickey and give him some good warmup time in the bullpen with Posey before the game. For a sport trying to expand its base, Dickey would be a great story, and then there's the pitching- Dickey has been the best pitcher in the NL so far this year. LaRussa is once again trying to show how smart he is.

If winning the game is important then LaRussa made an excellent choice: The best catcher in the NL teamed with a guy he catches all the time. Why would you risk WPs and PBs in the 1st or 2nd inning when you have a ready made winning battery instead? It would be a disaster waiting to happen.

BTW...NL by two runs.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Um. Phil Mickelson goes baseball...?

Padres sale.

Edited July 10, 2012 by GoodSpeak

[Quincy]

But LaRussa could still start Dickey and give him some good warmup time in the bullpen with Posey before the game. For a sport trying to expand its base, Dickey would be a great story, and then there's the pitching- Dickey has been the best pitcher in the NL so far this year. LaRussa is once again trying to show how smart he is.

I think LaRussa's comment about "Cain having the better career" may refer to 1990 when LaRussa was managing the AL side in that game. The NL started Jack Armstrong who had a great 1st half of the season. Armstrong didn't do diddley squat for the rest of his career. While knuckleballers are famous for their careers taking a longer to get going it's not unreasonable to wonder if Dickey has just had a fluke 1st half. It doesn't help that 2 of his last 3 outings were terrible. That said I would have picked Dickey to start, but oh well, at least after this game we won't have LaRussa to kick around anymore.

Edited July 10, 2012 by Quincy

[paul secor]

GoodSpeak is hardly without bias in this argument. Even he would have to admit that.

[JSngry]

[Tim McG]

But LaRussa could still start Dickey and give him some good warmup time in the bullpen with Posey before the game. For a sport trying to expand its base, Dickey would be a great story, and then there's the pitching- Dickey has been the best pitcher in the NL so far this year. LaRussa is once again trying to show how smart he is.

I think LaRussa's comment about "Cain having the better career" may refer to 1990 when LaRussa was managing the AL side in that game. The NL started Jack Armstrong who had a great 1st half of the season. Armstrong didn't do diddley squat for the rest of his career. While knuckleballers are famous for their careers taking a longer to get going it's not unreasonable to wonder if Dickey has just had a fluke 1st half. It doesn't help that 2 of his last 3 outings were terrible. That said I would have picked Dickey to start, but oh well, at least after this game we won't have LaRussa to kick around anymore.

Dickey, though doing very well right now, is a flash in the pan.

He's 38 and this is his break-out year? C'mon.

GoodSpeak is hardly without bias in this argument. Even he would have to admit that.

I dunno.

Where I certainly admit to some bias here, this is the line on Cain: 1H, No BB, 1SO, 0.50 WHIP and a 0.00 ERA on two innings pitched.

NL leads 8-zip in the 5th.

To the Mets fans: Tell me again how RA Dickey would have been a better choice to start.

Oh and BTW, Sandoval has 3RBI's on 2H and scored a run. Cabrerra has 2H w/a HR, 2RBIs and scored a run. Posey has 1H and scored a run. Maybe LaRussa [and the fans who voted] did know what he [they were] was doing, eh?

Edited July 11, 2012 by GoodSpeak

[paul secor]

Despite Bud's b.s. ruling that the winning team gets home field advantage in the series, the all-star game is a spectacle, a chance for fans to see their favorite players. How many people remember who won the all-star game 10 years ago - without looking it up?

If LaRussa had any bit of class, he would have given a 38 year old who is having a great season so far and carrying his team, the chance to start the game. And I'm not a Mets fan.

In my book, LaRussa is as bogus as his dyed hair.

[Tim McG]

Despite Bud's b.s. ruling that the winning team gets home field advantage in the series, the all-star game is a spectacle, a chance for fans to see their favorite players. How many people remember who won the all-star game 10 years ago - without looking it up?

If LaRussa had any bit of class, he would have given a 38 year old who is having a great season so far and carrying his team, the chance to start the game. And I'm not a Mets fan.

In my book, LaRussa is as bogus as his dyed hair.

I agree: Bud Selig is full of shit regarding the W-L in the All-Star Game vs home field advantage in the WS.

However, if you are interested in winning baseball games, emotional favorites are not who you go with.

Here's the line on Dickey: 1H, 1K, 1.00 WHIP in one inning pitched. Cain's the better pitcher today....and with good reason. LaRussa made the right call, IMHO.

[Quincy]

The last time the All-Star Game was in Kansas City a Giant outfielder was MVP. Bobby Bonds. No, I do not memorize All-Star Game outcomes, but with the 1974 Topps set when you flipped over the All-Stars by position cards it formed a b&w photo of him.

[Brad]

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1341973162' post='1209890']

Despite Bud's b.s. ruling that the winning team gets home field advantage in the series, the all-star game is a spectacle, a chance for fans to see their favorite players. How many people remember who won the all-star game 10 years ago - without looking it up?

If LaRussa had any bit of class, he would have given a 38 year old who is having a great season so far and carrying his team, the chance to start the game. And I'm not a Mets fan.

In my book, LaRussa is as bogus as his dyed hair.

I agree: Bud Selig is full of shit regarding the W-L in the All-Star Game vs home field advantage in the WS.

However, if you are interested in winning baseball games, emotional favorites are not who you go with.

Here's the line on Dickey: 1H, 1K, 1.00 WHIP in one inning pitched. Cain's the better pitcher today....and with good reason. LaRussa made the right call, IMHO.

Shocking you would say that

However, there was never really any question who was the better pitcher coming in and that's what you measure things on when making a decision.

I think in the future they should have retired mgrs manage. Next year we can start with Joe Torre.

Edited July 11, 2012 by Brad

[JETman]

Despite Bud's b.s. ruling that the winning team gets home field advantage in the series, the all-star game is a spectacle, a chance for fans to see their favorite players. How many people remember who won the all-star game 10 years ago - without looking it up?

If LaRussa had any bit of class, he would have given a 38 year old who is having a great season so far and carrying his team, the chance to start the game. And I'm not a Mets fan.

In my book, LaRussa is as bogus as his dyed hair.

I agree: Bud Selig is full of shit regarding the W-L in the All-Star Game vs home field advantage in the WS.

However, if you are interested in winning baseball games, emotional favorites are not who you go with.

Here's the line on Dickey: 1H, 1K, 1.00 WHIP in one inning pitched. Cain's the better pitcher today....and with good reason. LaRussa made the right call, IMHO.

They both gave up no runs and had an ERA of 0.00. THIS is the only stat that matters for pitchers. An increased WHIP means nothing at the end of the day if it doesn't translate to an increase in runs scored. Appearance in an All-Star game is supposed to be based on performance during that year, not during one's career. Like it or not, flash in the pan or not, Dickey is having a better year than Cain, period. LaRussa's always been an idiot! If status in an All-Star game WERE based on career stats, Seaver would've started damn near every one during his NL career.

[Matthew]

Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't take Tony-I-never-knew-McGwire-was-taking-steriods-even-though-everyone-else-in-the-USA-knew-LaRussa.

[JETman]

Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't take Tony-I-never-knew-McGwire-was-taking-steriods-even-though-everyone-else-in-the-USA-knew-LaRussa.

Yes, a legend in his own mind!

[Soulstation1]

Did George Brett face Goose Gossage one more time in the all star game?

Was GB at the game?

[BERIGAN]

Where did you hear that Ruiz is going to catch R.A. Dickey? Yadier Molina is the best catcher in baseball today, so I thought he would be the one.

... So NL will just have 2 catchers, however the rules allow Posey to return to the game if Ruiz is injured. If Posey were to become injured as well Bud Selig will catch.

Though I surely would not want to see Posey and Ruiz injured, if they both had gotten sick, I would have dearly LOVED to see Selig catch!

La Russa is not the most likeable guy in the world, but he does have 3 W.S. rings in an era it's pretty hard to do that...and that Card team looked absolutely dead in the water last year...for them to come back and not only get into the playoffs, but to win the W.S. He has to get some of the credit...

[JSngry]

Verlander gives up five, appears to not really care, had fun anyway: http://espn.go.com/mlb/allstar12/story/_/id/8155762/justin-verlander-all-star-start-was-disaster-mlb

Really?

Apparently "This One Counts" is not a unanimously held opinion.

[Brad]

At the end of the day, it's only an exhibition game so who really cares. We will just see at the end of the season who had the better season. Parting shot: he had a perfect game but then so did Phillip Humber, the White Sox pitcher (a former Met farmhand by the way), and he is, was and a mediocre pitcher, save his one big moment.

Edited July 11, 2012 by Brad

[Soulstation1]

Was George Brett at the All Star game?

Didn't watch the game

29th anniversary of the pine tar game is coming up

[Brad]

Was George Brett at the All Star game?

Didn't watch the game

29th anniversary of the pine tar game is coming up

Think so since he was the manager of the Futures Team.

[Soulstation1]

Brett's rookie card and a PSA 10

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